Lindsay Lohan’s Lawyer Criticizes Palm Desert Police

Lindsay Lohan's lawyer says Palm Desert police investigators overstepped their bounds when they announced the troubled actress violated her probation.

"The important, yet limited, investigatory role of the police to gather facts and collect evidence is well-established," Shawn Chapman Holley tells PEOPLE in a statement. "The fact that the Palm Desert Police Department went outside this limited role to issue a press statement expressing its opinion about what should happen in Ms. Lohan's case is highly unusual and deeply troubling."

Holley’s response comes after police on Monday said the actress did, in fact, commit battery against a Betty Ford employee in a Dec. 12 scuffle – and said they plan to hand the case over to local prosecutors for review.